Kiltartan is a parish in Galway, Ireland, an area known for its high proportion of native Irish speakers and for retaining much of its pre-colonial heritage. The “Cross” likely referred to an intersection or social hub, which today is marked by a stone marker bearing two lines from "An Irish Airman Foresees his Death." Its inclusion in the poem highlights the speaker’s connection to not only their Irish heritage, but to their upbringing in this particular rural area. The speaker states that their country of loyalty is “Kiltartan Cross” (Line 5), rather than Ireland as a whole; this suggests that the speaker isn’t driven by a nationalist identity, but by a more human and interpersonal inner world.